Benjy Egel
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Congresswoman Lois Capps (D-CA) visited Cal Poly in a forum titled “Coffee Conversations with Congresswoman Capps” on Wednesday afternoon.
Political science junior and Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) advocacy committee chair Hamzah Ramadan organized the hour-long event. Students packed the San Luis Room in the Julian A. McPhee University Union.
“We’ve been in contact with her district office and her Washington D.C. office since January,” Ramadan said. “It was pretty easy, (but) she only had a 3:15 to 4:15 available time slot because she’s busy all day with campaign and congressional stuff.”
Students asked Capps questions ranging from higher education concerns to renewable energy. Capps spent her morning visiting a neighborhood where people insulated their homes with hay bales to preserve heat, she said.
Some students debated the benefits and drawbacks of California installing a light-speed transit system. While Capps did not take a stance on the issue, she said traffic in some parts of the state was proof something needed to change.
As a former school nurse and 16-year veteran in Congress, Capps said she understood Cal Poly students’ concerns of rising tuition.
“If you’re constantly worried about debt or thinking of not going to graduate school because you can’t afford it, then we’re being shortchanged as a nation,” Capps said. “And we’re shortchanging you in the process.”
Ramadan’s predecessors on the ASI Board of Directors recommended he bring Capps back to Cal Poly for a forum, which she hadn’t done in about five years, he said.
“I’m very pleased with the turnout. You never want an empty house for a congresswoman,” Ramadan said. “It was really cool that she was able to come out for the hour that she was.”